stretch

present singular third person stretches · participle present stretching · participle past stretched · past stretched · obsolete participle past straught · obsolete past straught · obsolete participle past straight · obsolete past straight · alternative misspelling strech · alternative deliberate misspelling stremtch

1. transitiveTo lengthen by pulling.

   I stretched the rubber band until it almost broke.

2. intransitiveTo lengthen when pulled.

   The rubber band stretched almost to the breaking point.

   1 more example

   The inner membrane […] because it would stretch and yield, remained unbroken.

   1659 December 30 (date written), Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air, and Its Effects […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] H[enry] Hall, printer to the University, for Tho[mas] Robinson, published 1660, →OCLC

3. transitiveTo pull tight.

   First, stretch the skin over the frame of the drum.

4. intransitivetransitiveTo extend one’s limbs or another part of the body, for example in order to improve the elasticity of one's muscles.

   I always stretch my muscles before exercising.

   1 more example

   When the cat woke up, it yawned and stretched.

5. intransitiveTo extend physically, especially from a limit point and/or to a limit point.

   The beach stretches from Cresswell to Amble.

   3 more examples

   Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path[…]. It twisted and turned,[…]and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and all blazing with lights.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

   Behind them, stretching in a long line east and west, were the Roan and Book Cliffs, cut to their base by the river's gorge, and meandering away in long wavy lines distorted by heat haze and the smoke of forest fires.

   1954, Wallace Stegner, Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West, Houghton Mifflin, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 75

   Three varieties of wild rice, O. rufipogon, O. officinalis and O. meyeriana, have been found in China, in a zone stretching from Hainan to Taiwan and from Northern Kwangsi to Ching-hung¹ on the Upper Mekong in Yunnan.

   1984, Science and Civilization in China, volume 6, Cambridge University Press, published 2004, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 483

6. figurativelytransitiveTo get more use than expected from a limited resource.

   I managed to stretch my coffee supply a few more days.

7. figurativelytransitiveTo make inaccurate by exaggeration.

   To say crossing the street was brave is stretching the meaning of "brave" considerably.

   1 more example

   To say he's been to this park a million times is stretching the numbers. The true number is around 30 or 40.

   Synonyms: hyperbolize, overemphasize, overstate, big up, cut it fat, exaggerate, hyperbolize, overcharge

8. transitiveTo make great demands on the capacity or resources of something.

   Her bizarre explanation really stretches credulity.

   1 more example

   By the fullest exploitation of modern signalling, multiple-unit operation and flying and burrowing junctions the S.R. has greatly increased the capacity of its tracks to carry this growing load of peak-hour passengers, but that capacity is now stretched to the limit.

   1960 March, “Talking of Trains: The problem of the peak”, in Trains Illustrated, page 130

9. transitiveTo increase.

   Yakubu took advantage of John Ruddy's error to put the visitors back in front, with Chris Samba's header stretching their advantage.

   2011 October 29, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3-3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport

10. intransitiveTo increase, to grow.

    As I sat in the waiting room, the minutes stretched into hours.

    1 more example

    Unless we rekindle our communication skills, the 2020s "loneliness epidemic" could stretch into a "solitary century."

    2025 December 9, Rachel Konrad and Matt Abrahams, “Why Young People Are Struggling to Communicate”, in TIME

11. nauticalTo sail by the wind under press of canvas.

    The ship stretched to the eastward.

12. transitivenatural sciencesTo make a pulse or particle bunch longer by applying dispersion to it.

    Diffraction gratings are by far the most common elements used to stretch and compress pulses because of their substantial angular dispersion, […]

    2019, B. Webb et al., “Simulation of grating compressor misalignment tolerances and mitigation strategies for chirped-pulse–amplification systems of varying bandwidths and beam sizes”, in Applied Optics, volume 58, number 2, pages 234-243

    Antonyms: compress

13. archaicslangtransitiveTo execute by hanging.

    Synonyms: truss, forhang, Guy Fawkes, hang, ketch, send to the scaffold, scrag, string up

14. colloquialintransitiveobsoleteTo stretch the truth; to exaggerate.

    a man apt to stretch in his report of facts

plural stretches · alternative misspelling strech · alternative deliberate misspelling stremtch

1. countableuncountableAn act of stretching.

   I was right in the middle of a stretch when the phone rang.

2. countableuncountableThe ability to lengthen when pulled.

   That rubber band has quite a bit of stretch.

3. countableidiomaticuncountableA course of thought which diverts from straightforward logic, or requires extraordinary belief or exaggeration.

   It's a bit of a stretch to call Boris Karloff a comedian.

   1 more example

   To say crossing the street was brave was quite a stretch.

4. countableuncountableA segment of a journey or route.

   It was an easy trip except for the last stretch, which took forever.

   1 more example

   It's a tough stretch of road in the winter, especially without chains.

5. countableuncountableA segment or length of material.

   a stretch of cloth

6. UKarchaiccountableslanguncountableA walk.

   In the afternoon I went for a stretch into the country, & about 4 it cleared up pretty well, so I hurried back & we got a cart & drove to Bassano, a little town about 8 miles off, that we wanted to see.

   a. 1941, Evelyn Underhill, quoted in 2010, Evelyn Underhill, Carol Poston, The Making of a Mystic: New and Selected Letters of Evelyn Underhill (page 81)

7. countableuncountableball gamesA quick pitching delivery used when runners are on base where the pitcher slides his leg instead of lifting it.
8. countableuncountableball gamesA long reach in the direction of the ball with a foot remaining on the base by a first baseman in order to catch the ball sooner.
9. countableinformaluncountableTerm of address for a tall person.

   Amelia: I mean, you're already a dwarf. Gura: Oh, OK, Stretch.

   2024 February 10, Amelia Watson, Gawr Gura, 2:46:24 from the start, in 【Deep Rock Galactic】yoooooooooo (YouTube live stream)

   1 more example

   “Hey, Stretch,” he shouted at a tall, spectacled co-worker, “turn the fucking station, will you? You know I can't stand Rush, and it's all they play on this one. If I hear those assholes whine 'Tom Sawyer' one more time, I may go on a fucking killing spree.

   2007, Michael Farrell, Running with Buffalo

10. countableuncountablehobbiesThe homestretch, the final straight section of the track leading to the finish.
11. countableuncountableA length of time.

    After the harvest there was a stretch of clear dry weather, and the animals toiled harder than ever […]

    1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC

    1. IrelandcountableuncountableExtended daylight hours, especially said of the evening in springtime when compared to the shorter winter days.

       There is a grand stretch in the evenings.

    2. countableuncountablehobbiesThe period of the season between the trade deadline and the beginning of the playoffs.

       The '42 Cardinals are best known for their amazing stretch run. St. Louis won 43 of their last 51 games and came back from a double-digit deficit in games in early August to edge out the Dodgers for the N.L. flag.

       2000, Rob Neyer, Eddie Epstein, GBaseball Dynasties: The Greatet Teams of All Time, page 179

    3. countableslanguncountableA jail or prison term.

       He did a seven-year stretch in jail.

       1 more example

       "Of course, if Cripps likes to stay here and do a stretch for burglary, well and good."

       1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 132

       Synonyms: stint

    4. countableslanguncountableA jail or prison term of one year's duration.

       Synonyms: stint

    5. countableuncountableA single uninterrupted sitting; a turn.
12. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of stretch limousine.

1. A surname.